You Think You Know Someone
by eventide89
Summary: Faberry-meets-Veronica Mars. Rachel enlists Quinn's help and in doing so sets something entirely new in motion. Faberry.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: Glee and it's characters are property of Fox, they are not mine. Obviously. Also, title nicked from a VMars episode.  
**Spoilers**: None, totally head!canon.  
**Summary**: Prompt-fill, 1000 words or less. "Quinn as a Veronica mars-esq private detective; used to be popular and now is just sassy. Rachel goes to her to either find her mum or find out if Finn is cheating."  
**A/N**: Rushed and totally uneditted, ergo mistakes are mine!

* * *

Quinn slung her backpack over one shoulder and started for the door, turning back at the last moment to the sound of her voice being called over the obnoxious ringing of the last-period bell.

The former Cheerio quirked a curious eyebrow at the small brunette lingering in the now-empty classroom, hovering by her desk with folded arms.

"What's up Rachel?"

"I heard that you- I mean someone told me that- Really it was only Jacob and I'm well aware that he's not perhaps the most _reliable_ source of information but he certainly sounded very convincing when he told me," Rachel gushed, sucking in a deep breath to continue. "And I'd heard rumours and I thought- What am I even saying, this is ridiculous," she concluded, scooping her bag up from the desk and marching towards the door.

Quinn chuckled inwardly, reaching out to grab the retreating girl's arm only to be met with that annoyingly familiar tingle where her hand met bare skin.

"Why don't you just ask?" she shrugged, letting her bag fall to the floor and hopping up to sit on the desk.

"Ask what?"

Quinn rolled her eyes good-naturedly at the brunette with a smile. "I may not be the head bitch in charge any more, but I'm pretty sure I'm up to date on the very best of McKinley hearsay; there are only two worthwhile bits of Quinn Fabray gossip circulating the halls and blogisphere right now, and since both are actually true for once," she shrugged again, "it really doesn't matter which one you wanted to ask about."

Rachel's slightly-open mouth snapped shut as she peered at the blonde curiously.

"So it's true? You're a- you know?"

Amusement still etched on her face, Quinn crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow questioningly- the other girl wasn't getting away that easily. But just below the surface, she could feel that slight tickle of nerves, the low bubble in her stomach. It wasn't quite the same quiet rumble of fear that had rippled through her the first few times people had gotten up the nerve to actually confirm the rumour; in a way it was worse. Because it was Rachel, and Rachel knowing was so much more complicated.

She wondered, sometimes, if it hadn't been simpler before. She may have spent half of her waking hours trying her hardest to crush part of herself into the darkness to be forgotten, but that had at least been easier than wondering –every time she'd catch Rachel's gaze linger for a moment longer than necessary, or feel her dancing just a little bit closer than was strictly friendly in glee- if maybe this 'thing' she had going on, wasn't totally one-sided.

"So you really are a-" Rachel paused again and Quinn poised herself. "A _private_ _investigator_?" she finished in a hushed whisper.

Put like that, Quinn decided, her chosen extracurricular sounded more than a little ridiculous.

"Oh _that_? Uh huh," she acknowledged with a shrug of disinterest, as if it were the most obvious and normal thing in the world. "I'm assuming you're not holding me hostage in an empty classroom just to ask me that though?"

_Stop flirting, right now._

Rachel blushed slightly and looked away, crossing her arms over herself before turning back with a frown.

"I think Finn's been cheating on me."

The smile dropped from Quinn's face immediately, and she slid from the desk to stand in front of the other girl.

"What? Rachel no, I'm sure Finn wouldn't-" she tailed off, unable to finish, because Finn _would_ and she knew it.

"He would" Rachel nodded, echoing her thoughts, eyes starting to brim with emotion. "I think we both know that."

She sucked in a shaky breath before continuing.

"And honestly it's not- Well things haven't been going so well between us lately, I've actually been thinking about breaking it off with him for a some time."

The blonde did her best to ignore the happy little niggle in her stomach at Rachel's words, focusing completely on being equal parts sad, sympathetic and outraged. The latter two weren't difficult; she could kill Finn.

"But it doesn't make it any less hurtful that he'd do something like that, and I just wanted- Well I just wondered if you could help me find out if it's true? I know it's maybe weird of me to ask but I didn't really know who else to go to, and I know he'll deny it if I ask him outright."

_It's a bad idea. It's a really, really bad idea. Don't get involved in her relationship._

"Sure, of course I can," Quinn's voice answered, seemingly of its own accord and unable to refuse the brunette and her pleading expression.

The hug caught Quinn off guard, and her arms hung loosely at her sides in surprise for a moment before she brought them up to wrap around Rachel's waist, her eyes drifting shut instinctively for the briefest moment before the other girl pulled back, looking her in the eye with a curious frown.

"What was the other thing?"

"Huh?"

"You said there were _two_ rumours, and that both were true. I've only heard one."

"Oh. I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Quinn explained cryptically, swinging her bag over her shoulder again and throwing the girl a final smile over her shoulder as she left.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** A few people (Tanya, this is mostly for you!) asked for a continuation of the one-shot, so here it is. It's un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine- sorry. And there's more of it to come if anyone wants there to be.

* * *

Quinn's eyes skimmed over the final page of her latest English assignment before tossing it onto the passenger seat, satisfied that it had now been proof-read to within an inch of its life and thoroughly annotated in annoying red marker.

A movement along the street caught her eye and she let herself sink a little lower in the driver's seat, retrieving her camera from the space at her feet and squinting a little to see through the window.

She glanced at her watch as Finn emerged fully onto the front porch of the unknown house and quirked a suspicious eyebrow; she made it nearly two hours since he'd disappeared inside. In her opinion that alone was enough to confirm the suspicions, and she was not at all surprised when a blonde Cheerio from the year below whose name she couldn't recall appeared in the doorway behind him. Finn flashed the unknown girl what Quinn had come to refer to in her head as his "I'm awesome" smirk and leant in to kiss her, arms wrapping around her and hands sliding low on her back.

"Ugh," she muttered to the empty car.

His sexually charged 'typical male' behaviour irritated her, but no more than the actions of most other guys in the school. It was something else entirely that caused that white hot anger she could feel burning low in her abdomen.

It was bad enough, she raged, that he'd cheat on someone like Rachel. But what was really infuriating her was the fact that he didn't even look to be trying to hide it; standing on the front porch for the entire world to see.

Her camera sat forgotten in her grasp for a few moments as she seethed, before remembering whys she was there and hastily snapping a few pictures of the pair in their distinctly compromising position and throwing the camera back onto the passenger seat alongside her essay in disgust.

She was irrationally angry; she knew that. This should be no different than any other cheating high-schooler she'd caught out in the past few months.

But it was.

Because the cheater was Finn, and Finn meant Rachel. And Rachel meant…something else entirely. The complexities of her feelings towards Rachel were something she'd only begun to understand –more importantly to accept_-_ relatively recently; part of the natural progression of 'finding herself', she supposed.

Breathing out a long sigh at _that_ can of worms, Quinn put the issue to the back of her mind and shifted the car into gear, reversing smoothly out of her space and pulling away from the scene.

* * *

Five-or-so blocks away, Rachel was sitting cross-legged on her bed, laptop open in front of her and an empty browser window tempting her.

_Two rumours._

The mystery surrounding Quinn's second secret had been pestering her since the blonde had walked out of their classroom earlier in the day and although, as a rule, she tended to avoid Jacob Ben Israel's blog, the prospect of discovering the truth was very, _very_ tempting.

Her fingers hovered over the keys for a few seconds longer as she debated the morality of snooping around in Quinn's private life. Then again, she thought, if it was on Jacob's blog then everyone probably knew already and if everyone else already knew, there was no harm in her finding out. Right?

Right.

She hastily navigated to the blog's homepage, scrolling down the convenient alphabetized list of students at the side –pausing for a moment over her own and thinking better of it- until she reached 'Fabray, Quinn' and clicked.

She swallowed down the slightly guilty feeling she had as the page loaded, and did her best to slow her rapidly pounding heart. It couldn't even be anything very-

'_Which ex-cheerleader is more Queerio than Cheerio?_

_That's right fellow McKinley-goers. No, we're not talking about the no longer news-worthy sexcapades of one Miss Santana Lopez and girlfriend Brittany Pierce-'_

She scrunched her brow in confusion at the computer screen as the video on the page loaded; obviously her brain was taking its time to get into gear, because what she was reading made it sound like- But it couldn't _actually_ mean that.

"_Ladies and Gentlebloggers of McKinley," _Jacob's voice met her ears as the video began to auto play._ "In the event that you live in a Twitterless hole, allow me to enlighten you…"_

Rachel watched the camera pan around, focusing in on Quinn at her locker along the hallway, busily ferrying books from locker to bag.

"_Quinn Fabray. You've been up and down the social ladder more often than Noah Puckerman changes his underwear. Care to comment?"_

Quinn turns towards him with her usual poise and control, raising a disinterested eyebrow to his question before returning her attention to the contents of her locker.

"_Word on the web is that you've turned your attention well away from on/off boyfriend and mediocre quarterback Finn Hudson."_

"_Obviously."_

"_Care to expand?"_

"_Not really?"_

The nervous brunette watched Quinn turn her back on the persistent Jacob, who hurries along the hallway behind her, microphone still pointing her way.

"_Any comment on the widely-held belief that you have, in fact, turned your attention away from men altogether?"_

Rachel was sure she noticed Quinn's posture tense for the briefest second, before relaxing back to normal as she turns to the intrepid interviewer, fixing him with an intense stare.

"_What would you like me to say?"_

The boy gulps noticeably, and Rachel can't help but smile despite being almost paralytic with shock.

"_Are you denying this newest gaytastic rumour?"_

"_Nope."_ Quinn's monosyllabic answer is delivered with a small smirk and quirk of an eyebrow before she turns and makes her way to class, this time un-pursued by the camera, which turns back to a slightly flustered-looking Jacob.

"_There you have it, McKinley. You heard it here first."_

The video window went black and Rachel was left staring wide-eyed at the computer screen completely at a loss for what to think. She could feel her heart thudding hard in her chest, could hear the blood pounding heavily in her ears and when she finally tried to swallow down the large lump in her throat, found her mouth completely dry.

She wondered if she might be in shock.

It wasn't as though Quinn's secret was anything _bad;_ it just happened to be the last thing on earth Rachel had expected it to be, and her reaction was as jumbled as her feelings.

Not least because the revelation on Quinn's sexuality brought several implications and issues from the not-too-distant recesses of Rachel's thoughts.

The loud vibration of her cell against her desk startled her from her thoughts, and the single word 'Quinn' on the caller ID made her heart skip a beat with the feeling of being caught as for a brief, irrational moment she wondered if Quinn could hear her thoughts somehow.

"Quinn?" she squeaked out unnecessarily, guilt lifting her tone a few octaves.

"Hey. Everything ok?"

Rachel swallowed again, mouth still severely lacking in moisture, and did her best to level her voice. "Fine, I'm fine."

"Ok. Well I-"

She heard Quinn sigh down the line and pushed her newfound knowledge to the back of her mind as she remembered why Quinn must be calling in the first place.

"Finn."

"Yeah. Look Rachel I wish I had better news for you but you were right."

She hadn't been expecting anything different, but it didn't lessen the sting.

"I have a couple of pictures, I mean if you want to confront him about it or-"

"Thanks, Quinn. That would be…useful." As much as she didn't want to actually _see_ Finn –or anyone for that matter- cheating on her, she knew he'd deny it otherwise; he didn't have the finest track record of telling the truth.

"I can get them printed and bring them into school tomorrow."

"Could you come over now?" The question seemed to fall out of her mouth of its own accord and she screwed up her face in a cringe at the rejection she was sure was to come.

Quinn fell silent for a second before she answered, barely disguising the surprise and uncertainty in her voice, which faltered slightly.

"Sure. I mean, it's not a problem. Twenty minutes?"

"See you then."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I don't remember the last time I updated something this fast O.O Thank you everyone who's let me hear their thoughts on this so far, hope you continue to enjoy it :)

* * *

Quinn yanked on her hand break probably a little more forcefully than necessary, a combination of still-burning anger and something akin to nerves, which she could only assume was an unavoidable consequence of visiting the home of the girl she'd spent so long battling her feelings for, and the things that had happened as a result of said struggle.

'_Complicated doesn't even cover it.'_

She sighed to herself and grabbed the camera from the passenger seat, checking her make-up unnecessarily in the rear view mirror before making her way up the path and pointing the key over her shoulder to lock the car.

When a man she assumed to be one of Rachel's fathers greeted her at the door, the pit of her stomach seemed to drop to her feet as she suddenly realized that Rachel _must_ have told her parents about all the awful things Quinn had orchestrated during their years at McKinley.

As if she didn't already harbour enough guilt over her actions, now she'd have to stand and accept whatever words of punishment Hiram-or-Leroy (she was still wracking her brains trying to remember which one he was) had to throw her way.

She steeled herself, knowing to well that no matter how much she'd changed she still deserved anything he had to say to her.

"Quinn, right?"

She sucked in a low breath and stood up a little straighter, squaring her shoulders and preparing for the torrent; she was Quinn Fabray, she could take it.

"That's me."

His brow furrowed in a small frown of contemplation as he studied Quinn closely for a second, before breaking into a wide smile so very reminiscent of Rachel's own that no one could be left in any doubt as to who his daughter was.

"Come in, Rachel said you'd be coming."

Quinn opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, not entirely sure how to respond and still standing on the doorstep in confusion when Rachel appeared at the top of the stairs. Quinn allowed herself to release the breath she'd been holding, and took a moment to appreciate the rare sight of Rachel in something other than her normal sort-of-cute-but-impossible-to-really- enjoy attire, noting to herself that the short shorts and large shirt –undoubtedly one of her father's-hanging off one bare shoulder was _definitely_ a good look on the brunette.

Rachel's eyes wouldn't quite meet her own, fingers absently playing with the cuff of the oversized shirt, but whatever had been wrong, Rachel seemed quick to shake it off, bouncing down the stairs to greet her. "Quinn, hi. Do you want to-" she faltered as she gestured over her shoulder and back up the stairs to her room.

Quinn barely restrained a snort of laughter -although her stomach gave a little flip at the thought of being in Rachel's room alone with her- and couldn't hold in the small grin at how cute it was that Rachel Berry, the girl who could march on stage and wow hundreds of people with her voice, could get so socially awkward.

From her other side, Rachel's father interjected to save his daughter, an interested half-smile etched on his face. "Would you girls like me to bring anything up for you?"

Rachel's relief was almost palpable.

"No, I think we're ok, thank you daddy."

"Have fun then!"

The instant the pair were left alone, Quinn was suddenly very aware of the stifling tension in the air, though she wasn't quite sure whose fault that was.

It was sort of ridiculous, actually, she thought. They saw each other every day at school; they'd spent plenty of time alone-

Ok so, that last part wasn't, she realized, strictly true. In fact, aside from their classroom chat, they'd rarely spent more than a few minutes alone with each other before today.

'_Still…I get why _I'm_ tense, but Rachel?'_

She was wracking her brain trying to figure it out as she followed the brunette up the stairs, eyes wondering absently to the exposed thigh below the hem of her shorts.

They hadn't had any sort of confrontation in _months_, so it couldn't be that, surely? And admittedly, Quinn wasn't there for the most pleasant of reasons; there was plenty of cause for Rachel to be angry or upset, but awkward and tense? Not so much.

'_Unless…shit.'_

The thought occurred to her a split second before she became suddenly aware of her wondering stare, eyes darting back up just in time to meet Rachel's as the other girl turned towards her, pausing for a second before leading her into her room.

* * *

Rachel moved to perch cross-legged at the head of her bed trying, and failing, to tear her eyes away from Quinn's profile at the other end. It was strange -and annoying- she mused, that five minutes ago she'd barely been able to glance at the other girl, but seemed unable to look away since she'd felt -and almost caught- the other girl staring at her in the hallway.

'_Not helping the situation, at all.'_

"So I-" Quinn's voice broke through her thoughts as she turned towards her, unhooking the camera from around her neck. "I can let you see the pictures, if you want. Or I can leave them on your computer," she suggested, gesturing to the still-open laptop.

"I want to see them. Well, I don't _want_ to see them but it would probably be the best idea for me to just get it out of the way and know what it is that-"

She trailed off as the tense ball in her stomach gave way to that same nausea she'd felt the first time she'd become suspicious of Finn's behaviour, and became rapidly mixed with anger as she scrolled her way through the photos on Quinn's camera.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry. I didn't-"

Rachel couldn't quite find her voice to reassure the girl the way she wanted to. To remind her that she'd only done as asked.

She reached up to swipe at a stray tear that was creeping down her cheek, passing the camera to its owner and fixing her eyes on her own lap. The arm she felt wrapping around her shoulder a moment later took her by surprise, but she gratefully allowed herself to sink into the embrace, her foggy mind barely registering exactly who was holding her and the closeness with which they were now sitting on her bed.

"It's not-" her voice cracked and she swallowed down the awkward lump in her throat before trying again. "I meant what I said to you earlier. Finn and I- It's not working out," she explained, sniffling into Quinn's shoulder. "But it doesn't make it hurt any less that he would do that. That anyone would do that."

"Would it make you feel better if I told you that seventy-five per cent of the couples in our school have cheated on each other?"

Rachel could tell from Quinn's voice that she didn't _actually_ expect it to make her feel better, but was still grateful for the attempt until a far worse thought occured to her.

"Do you know if this is the first time?" She enquired, pulling away from the other girl. She stared questioningly into hazel eyes and realized that the idea of Quinn knowing but saying nothing honestly made her feel worse than what Finn had done.

"I have no idea," Quinn shrugged apologetically, her whole face darkening after a moment as she realized exactly what Rachel was asking. "God, no Rachel. I swear I would have told you."

"Really? I mean I know we're not exactly friend's but-" she was rambling on autopilot, and she wasn't quite sure why she had to push when Quinn's expression was so open and honest that there was no way she was lying.

She was desperate for Quinn to contradict her about their friendship –or lack of. She was floundering in a torrent of her own emotions and grabbing for something to hold on to; something that she'd made no secret of always wanting to have, because Rachel Berry, for all her theatricality, kept her emotions so close to the surface and her heart on her sleeve.

That she may or may not have hoped somewhere in the back of her mind for something more with the former Cheerio was, at that moment, irrelevant. First and foremost, Rachel had always had an inexplicable urge to be in Quinn's life, to be her friend.

Although admittedly, the 'inexplicable' was making more sense of late.

"Rach-"

She felt the dull thud of her heart perk up a little at the sound of her nickname in Quinn's voice and used the spark of bravery it gave to curl back into Quinn's side, more aware of the action now and enjoying the closeness and low thrum of energy that seemed to run between them.

"I know we're hardly the best of friends, and our track record is- Ok, _my_ track record, is sort of…awful. But we _are _friends. I want us to be."

Rachel pulled reluctantly away again and turned her face to flash a smile in Quinn's direction, becoming very rapidly aware of how close the movement had brought them; she could feel warm breath tickling across her cheek, although she wasn't certain where that stopped and the red flush of her cheeks began.

She barely had time to register the moment before Quinn moved back, her own cheeks showing a definite pinkish hue of their own that hadn't been there before.

"I should probably go, I've got stuff to- I've got stuff. I can email you copies and I'll print them for you."

She nodded sadly, and this time didn't even attempt to deny that her sadness was directed less towards Finn's betrayal and more towards the loss of the moment with Quinn.

"And I uh-" Quinn reached up to rub the back of her neck uncomfortably. "I can find out how long- When it started. If you want?"

"It doesn't matter," Rachel admitted with a sigh. "I don't care, it's over. We're done."

There pool of emotion in Quinn's eyes when she met them this time was far too deep to even attempt to pick out individual feelings, but she could have sworn there was a flash of something that looked almost like desire.

They stood in thoughtful silence for a moment, somewhere between strangely comfortable and painfully awkward, before a loud knock on the door broke their reverie.

"Rachel honey, Finn's here to see you."

'_Wonderful._ _Because this wasn't complicated enough.'_

She groaned inwardly and moved past Quinn to open the door, noting again how her skin seemed to hum with electricity as she brushed her arm.

"Thanks daddy, could you tell him I'll be there in a minute."

"Will do sweetheart."

His footsteps faded out of earshot as he plodded back down the stairs, and Rachel turned back to the room to find Quinn looking angrier than she'd ever seen her. Her fists were clenched by her sides so tight that her knuckles had turned pale, and the look in her eyes was almost as intense as the rage that seemed to be coming off her in waves

The whole situation was strange for several reasons; primarily because Quinn Fabray was the very essence of restrained emotion. In fact she could repress her feelings like no-one Rachel had ever met and although she'd certainly become a little more open in recent months, she was still the most collected and temperate person Rachel knew.

And on top of that small detail, Rachel was having great difficulty figuring out exactly what was making Quinn so furious.

"What the _hell_?" Quinn seethed between her gritted teeth.

Rachel reached out to touch her arm, wrapping a small hand around her tensed bicep. "Quinn-?"

"How dare he show up here after he's been-? I'm going to _kill_ him."

Rachel cocked her head to one side and regarded the girl in confusion; _obviously_ she was mad about Finn, but as far as Rachel could tell the reaction seemed enormously disproportionate to the cause.

'_He cheated on her as well; this must be bringing up old memories.' _It was the only logical explanation.

"Quinn," she repeated, louder this time and fixing the girl in question with a steady stare. "It's ok, just…calm down."

"It's not _ok_ Rachel." She fumed, voice shaking slightly under the intensity of her emotion as she slid past Rachel to the door.

Quinn barely managed to reach for the doorknob before the smaller girl grabbed hold of her arm once again, spinning her round so that the pair were face to face and once more in uncomfortably close proximity, breath mingling in front of their faces.

It was the same and yet completely different to the brief moment they'd had only minutes ago on the bed.

There was that same intensity of feeling in both pairs of eyes as they bore into one another, but there were no embarrassed blushes or pulling away, just thudding heartbeats and blood pounding intensely in their ears.

"Quinn," Rachel muttered out her name for what seems like the hundredth time, the only coherent thought she's able to form while the two are in such close proximity.

She watched Quinn's tongue dart out over her lower lip, and for a second she was certain she could _literally_ feel the clouds parting her mind to reveal one clear thought: Quinn Fabray was going to kiss her, and that was perfectly alright with her.


End file.
